(CelebNMusic247-News) 12 Arrested in Hollywood After Wilding Rampage
Last night in Hollywood California nearly 30 teenage African American boys used a George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin protest as a cover to go on a robbery spree, called “wilding.”
Around 9:35 p.m. in the area of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue and outbreak of robberies occurred when around 30 others marauded through Hollywood, taking purses, phones, jewelry and other items from pedestrians and stealing items from businesses in a crime spree that police said was related to protests over the Trayvon Martin case.
It has been years since the famed boulevard had any type of crime. Hollywood has done a major clean up and has kept their streets safe for years. Last nights incident was a first in over 10 years.
Los Angeles Police Department‘s Media Relations Section said that the initial call indicated that 15 to 17 men and women were robbing people around Hollywood Boulevard and Gower Street, said Officer Christopher No, also of LAPD Media Relations.
No said:
“They kept moving from location to location.”
There were no reports of weapons being seen during the robberies.
Officers arrested 12 people, 11 juveniles and one adult, said Lt. Ray Valois of the LAPD’s Hollywood Station. Eleven of those arrested were booked on suspicion of robbery and one was booked on suspicion of receiving stolen property, he said.
In addition to robbing individuals’ property, the suspects also took items from businesses, leaving a mess behind them as they went, Valois said.
One victim suffered a hand injury while being robbed of her cell phone, but she was not hospitalized, said Sgt. J. Barkley of the Hollywood Station.
He said:
“Some of the robberies were witnessed by responding officers”
Barkley said the robberies were related to protests in downtown and South Los Angeles over the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of 17- year-old Trayvon Martin. He attributed the crimes to “people coming up to Hollywood to cause havoc.”
The robbers took a cash register from one business, LAPD incident commander Dennis Kato told the Los Angeles Times. As many as 40 people were involved in the robberies and at times they split into groups of 10 to 15, he said.
More than 110 officers were deployed from other stations in response to the robberies, Kato told The Times.
It is reported that a dozen people were behind bars all juveniles who planned the wilding through social media.
